- LONDON (Reuters) -- Kids
today. They waste hours in front of the TV and get their parents to spend
money on designer clothes and haircuts. And they're not even three years
old!
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- A new survey in Britain says toddlers are increasingly
leading a lifestyle once associated only with moody adolescents.
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- "Today's toddlers act like little teenagers - they've
been there, done it and got the T-shirt - but they miss out on good old-fashioned,
imaginative fun," said Karen Pasquali Jones, editor of Mother and
Baby magazine, which commissioned the survey.
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- The survey showed that by age three, 42 percent of youngsters
have a television in their own room and 50 percent have a CD player. The
average toddler spends more than two hours a day watching TV.
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- Two thirds of mothers said they bought designer clothes
for their toddlers, while 86 percent spent more on their child's clothes
than they did on their own. More than a quarter of the little consumers
"choose their own haircut".
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- Tots have sophisticated taste - 61 percent will eat Italian
food and 51 percent will eat Indian or Chinese food, though only three
percent like sushi.
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- But parents of previous generations will not be surprised
to learn that mothers still describe mealtimes as "nightmares",
with three-quarters of toddlers refusing to eat and over half opting to
throw their food rather than swallow.
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- Three-quarters of mothers say their children's behaviour
has affected their relationship with their partners and just under half
declared it has "wrecked" their sex lives.
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- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=qw1068059521486B241&set_id=1
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